weapon

Waymo Robotaxis have become a weapon for police control. And in Los Angeles they are burning them

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What started as a protest against raids Anti -immigration in the United States resulted in bell battles in the streets of Los Angeles and the mobilization of 2,000 national guard and 700 Marines. This morning. Donald Trump has confirmed that he will double the forces of this first body and, before the doubts about your legality, has confirmed that 4,000 troops will be deployed of the National Guard. For four days, the tension has increased to the point of confronting against the police, attacking various shops and burn cars. And in the middle of this whole fight, there is a clear affected by protests: Waymo. Click on the image to go to the original tweet Waymo, objective of protests No t -shirt, with the face covered and waving a flag of Mexico uploaded to the roof of a completely vandalized Waymo car. It is undoubtedly one of the most representative images of the protests that are being carried out in the United States. “Sometimes an image says everything to say”, Aldo Butazzoni points out in its publicationconservative journalist who is following the disturbances in the street. Getting to the Waymo vehicle roof is no accident. The company that has active a robotaxis service in the city is being one of the companies that are receiving more attacks, seeing how protesters completely destroy their cars. Last June 8, A photograph went viral. He showed at least three vehicles on fire. The company raised the figure to five cars and confirmed that it temporarily paused the service before the protests. In Los Angeles Times They assured that the protesters came to launch shared scooters of the Lime company against vehicles to access the interior. In his photographs a person is also seen trying to break one of the front windows with a skate table. But why this virulent attack on the company? Beyond the obvious damage to urban furniture with the burning of these cars and the intention of making difficulties to the police work, everything indicates that the company is being hard attacked by the protesters for deeper reasons. Since Waymo launched, attacks on the company have been multiple. In July last year, a person was accused of clicking the wheels to 17 Waymo vehicles. But it has not been the only vandalism, the previous months caught fire and destroyed the company’s cars in Los Angeles and San Franciscowhere they also operate. “Waymo lacks humanity. It is expensive and politicians, who have encouraged it, use it as an excuse to stop financing public transport. I hope Waymo collapses. With these words, Elise Joshi, well -known climatic activist, his position against Waymo attacks these days in these days explained in these days A publication in X. The Waymo service has always been surrounded by controversy. Although they are already approaching the 800,000 monthly travelersthe company has had to deal with the opposition of those who see in the service an attack against public transport, one more tool of the great technology of earning money without using people and a problem in day -to -day mobility. In recent years we have seen, for example, how Erobotaxis services caused various mobility problems. Some of little importance, such as almost 600 fines that accumulated Waymo cars for parking where they should not in a single year. But also more serious, like Cruise’s car than parked on top of a woman hit or the vehicles that complicated the work of firefighters. Those derived from the impact of these robotaxis companies are very wide. To the point that there are those who have questioned If they are the cause of more housing problems in cities like San Francisco. Constant surveillance There is another great derivative of why Waymo cars are constantly attacked. Beyond the social or political positioning before the service, when someone vandates a Waymo car ensures that it cannot be used by the police. They point out in Time that police forces are using Waymo cameras recurrently in their research. Each Waymo I-Pace Jaguar has 29 cameras to control everything that occurs around. That makes them a powerful asset for the police. In 404 average They published last April that the Los Angeles Police Department This video uploaded to YouTube To ask for citizen collaboration when locating the driver of a vehicle that would have hit a person in an accident that had nothing to do with the performance of the Robotaxi. In that article, Waymo said that he studied in detail all the requests of the police and that he did not deliver images indiscriminately but in Bloomberg They already pointed out in 2023 that the procedure for helping these vehicles was increasingly common. In fact, the media indicated that not only Waymo has been appealed by the police when collecting information for an alleged crime. Order forces too They would have asked for images To Tesla, according to the economic environment, since their cameras are recording at all times what happens around them. In fact, Elon Musk’s company has been accused of record their own owners in their homes without them knowing it. “We have known for a long time that they are essentially wheel surveillance cameras,” said Chris Gilliard, a merit member of the Carnegie Council for ethics in international affairs to Bloomberg. “We are supposed to be able to make our daily lives without being persecuted unless we are suspected of a crime, and every bit of this technology eliminates that capacity,” he concluded. Photo | Paul Goyette and Waymo In Xataka | I have tried a totally autonomous taxi. This is traveling without driver

China is merging three technologies into a single competitive weapon. In the West we continue to see them as something separate

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In 2007, Steve Jobs announced that he was going to present “three revolutionary devices”: A music player with touch screen. A mobile phone. An Internet browser. Then he revealed that there were not three separate products, but one: the iPhone. China is doing Something similar to its industrial revolution. Why is it important. While Europe and the United States deal with 5G, AI and renewable energies as independent sectors that compete for resources and attention, China has merged them into a general purpose technology capable of promoting productivity in all industries at the same time. The context. The strategy “Made in China 2025“It focused on ten specific priority sectors: from new materials to transport equipment. Ten years later, China is world leader in several fields (high -speed trains, energy infrastructure …), but continues to depend on foreign technology in more sophisticated areas such as aerospace or high performance medical devices. In figures. China has reduced its Technological Import Dependency Americans and European: 351 Product categories in 2000 A 177 in 2022. In parallel, the United States and the European Union now depend on China for 953 categories of products, three times more than at the beginning of the century. What has happened. The approach evolved towards What Xi Jinping calls “new productive forces”concept that put in the center of decisions since 2023. He Third Plenary of the Communist Party in 2024 He stressed the need to integrate AI, new materials and quantum technology. The key: the deployment of advanced technologies generates domestic demand for them, creating a cycle that further enhances industrial competitiveness. Advances in communications, operating systems, clean technologies and biotechnologies improve productivity, safety and quality in other sectors. A virtuous circle. Yes, but. This bet directed by the State is face and risky. The allocation of resources can become less efficient and has obvious side effects. Although economic reforms have improved the standard of living of the middle classes, the model focused on industry and technology has damaged the mood of the consumer and its disposition to spending. The threat. China does not want to rebalance its economy towards consumption and accepts negative – national and international consequences – while pursuing its manufacturing objectives. This includes internal socioeconomic conflicts, commercial surpluses and geopolitical competence by technology. You will have to address these effects at some point, but at the moment its formula works: integrate technologies that others treat separately to create a systemic competitive advantage. In Xataka | China monopolizes rare earths. An enemy has come out of home: the smuggers Outstanding image | Josh withrs, Zbynek Burival and Solen Feyissa in Unspash

Ukraine soldiers are starting to carry scissors. It is the only way to face Russia’s most lethal weapon

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At the beginning of January the New York Times told which was no longer possible to hide in the Ukraine War. Before the brutality of the contest a technology had sneaked into Evade electronic war and enter the enemy field of both sides as I had not done before. The threat was destroying the lines, making attacks invisible and evading any attempt at interference. Now, that technology has become stronger and deadly in Russia: the optical fiber. The Russian offensive. I explained it a few hours ago BBC in a report. In the Ukrainian town of Rodynske, a few kilometers from Pokrovsk, the war has acquired an even more devastating dimension with the intensive use of 250 kg planning pumps and surveillance and attack drones. The recent impact of one of these projectiles devastated administrative and residential buildings, leaving behind a destruction landscape. Russian troops, unable to take Pokrovsk directly, have begun to surround it strategicallycutting supply routes through a siege that intensifies with every day. The immediate presence of Russian drones about Rodynske reveals that Moscow has advanced from the east, beyond the previously identified positions, displaying their weapons since recently captured areas. The unstoppable rise of fiber. Under that changing scenario, a technology has been perfected as the most feared weapon in the conflict: guided drones by fiber optic cable. Unlike traditional models, their physical connection with the controller makes them immune to electronic interference, one of the most important defensive pillars so far. Although slower and can be tangled (for example, in their passage through trees high), their ability to operate in closed environments, such as Inside buildingsand to stay hidden, each movement of Ukrainian soldiers converts into a possible death sentence. In that sense, Russia has taken the front in its implementation while Ukraine still tested themand although now tries to accelerate its production, the technological difference continues to incline the balance on the battlefield. Fiber cable anchored to a drone in Ukraine The front lines. This new type of threat has completely altered the dynamics of Ukrainian detachments. Soldiers as it is or came, from the 68th Jaeger battalion, They described the BBC How simple transfer to a position can be more lethal than direct combat. The pressure has forced the units to remain much longer in the trenches, without the possibility of rotation. Maksym, gunner of the 5th Assault Battalion, says that they could alternate every few days, but now there are those who take until 120 days in a row on the front. Fatigue, moisture, constant death and the impossibility of lowering the guard have redefined combat. Oses, chief of recognition, explained that Russian tactics have evolved towards small and mobile infiltrations: Motorcycles, quadrimotos, patrols of one or two men who penetrate enemy lines such as scattered pieces on a chess board. Pros and cons of fiber in war. Detailed it in a Interview for The War Zone Yas, a commander of the Ukrainian unmanned units (drones). Operate drones by fiber optic offers an essential tactical advantage: it allows silent control, without detectable emissions, and makes many electronic warfare systems obsolete. However, the system also presents limitations. Drone management It requires great expertisesince an inexperienced pilot can cause losses due to control failures or even unwanted explosions. In addition, the fiber cable can be easily broken or entangled, and technology itself is expensive and difficult to access (especially for Ukraine). Despite this, the success index of fiber drones to achieve and hit their goals Round 50%figure that clearly exceeds that of conventional radiofrequency drones. However, less than 5% of the Ukrainian drone park, According to Yascurrently uses this system, mainly due to the shortage of quality units and the saturation of local manufacturers, many of which, in the beginning, reversed Chinese components without fully understanding the operating requirements in combat. The asymmetric race. In that sense, Russian capacities are not only imposed by number, but by the speed with which Adapt solutions. Every time Ukraine changes frequency or introduces improvements, Moscow responds quickly, climbing his countermeasures in a coordinated way. He has done so with control channels and video transmission. In that context, fiber optic drones They represent a momentary tactical advantage window. Although in Ukraine ranges of 15 and up to 20 kilometers with drones of this type have already been reached, Russia operates models of up to 30 kilometers. Yas lamented to the environment that, except in the case of conventional drones, the Ukrainian State has not yet managed to establish A solid infrastructure of production and deployment for fiber optic drones. A gap that can determine the difference between maintaining defensive positions or losing strategic ground against the enemy. Endurance. In The BBCa Ukrainian soldier said that the fear of drones Invisible Because of the fiber he has led them to start carry scissors everywhere To cut the cables. Technology has already given enough episodes of authentic nightmare where drones have entered buildings chasing human objectives. Meanwhile, and although Russia has made important advances, the Total Take Donetsk It is still far from being an immediate reality. Ukraine continues to resist, but suffers the shortage of ammunition, the imperative need for weapons and a worrying lack of qualified personnel against a more numerous Russian army and with better institutionalized processes at the moment. Yas is clear: The future of the war of drones will depend not only on technology itself, but who is able to organize it and multiply it faster. Meanwhile, every drone that raises the flight with a fiber optic coil becomes a silent bet between life and death. Image | Ministry of Defense of Ukraine In Xataka | The Ukrainian invention that has allowed to repel the waves of Russian attacks: a 41 km fiber optic cable In Xataka | The problem of many to cross the border and flee from the war in Ukraine is not the passport. They are your phones

The critical metal that China has become its new strategic weapon

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First it was Lithiumthen The cobalt. China has decided to play its letter with another essential metal for advanced technology: Gallium. Although just 760 metric tons are produced per yearprices have shot and Chinese restrictions are suffocating the global industry, what is happening with element number 31? Short. China maintains its dominance over the gallium for the third year, controlling 98.8% of the market. A year ago it hardened restrictions, alleging national securitywhich has doubled prices up to $ 725 per kilogram, affecting the technological and military industry. The utility of the Gallium. Although annual production is small and its nominal value in the global market does not exceed 550 million dollars, its strategic role is disproportionate to its market size. According to He explained For Reuters, the journalist specialized in critical industrial and mineral metals, Andy Home, Gallium is essential to manufacture compounds such as Gallium Arseniuro and Gallium Nitruro, both used In high performance semiconductors. These materials allow to develop faster and more efficient chips, essential for mobile devices, electric vehicles and defense systems. The never ending story. The geopolitical war that the United States and China libes is nothing new And it is not the first time that China has used gallium as a strategic pressure gun against the United States on next generation semiconductor chips. As He has collected Reuters, the China Ministry of Commerce is closely monitoring any attempt for physical arbitration that tries to divert Gallic to the international market, maintaining relatively stable internal prices while the external market faces an explosive increase. It has more size. The importance of the Gallium is not limited to the civil sector, but in the military world it has become a critical material. In fact, who started was the United States through the Agency for Advanced Defense Research Projects (DARPA), which promoted the development of Gallium Arseniuro for radars and guided weapons. However, China He has consolidated Its leadership with the manufacture of gallium nitride chips for advanced weapons, consolidating its position as a leader in the production of strategic semiconductors. In addition, the Asian country has invested significantly in manufacturing plants dedicated to these components, which would allow it not only to dominate the civil market, but also expand its production capacity for advanced defense systems. This strategy not only threatens the United States position in military technology, but also reinforces the global dependence of the Chinese supply of Gallium and other critical metals something that something that something that something that Japan already saw coming. The rest of the countries. In the long term, the West could reactivate the production of Gaul, but that will take time. According to ReutersRio Tinto has begun to extract pure Galician in his vaudreuil alumina refinery, in Quebec, from industrial waste. The objective is a pilot plant with a capacity of 3.5 tons per year. For its part, in Greece, producer Metlen plans to reach an annual production of 50 tons by 2028, as part of a project to increase the processing capacity of bauxite and alumina. However, the challenge is technical: Western companies stopped producing Gaul years ago, when China flooded the market with cheap product. Now, they must recover the experience and the know-how To refine and process metal. Forecasts The battle for Gaul is only the prelude to a broader technological war. China has shown that it is willing to use critical metals as strategic weapons, and the West faces the challenge of finding alternatives or risking to be exposed to future interruptions, such as He has sentenced Andy Home for Reuters. While investments in new projects are promising, time runs. Until the West does not manage to diversify its supply of Gallium and other critical metals, it will remain vulnerable to Beijing pressure strategy. Image | Thomas Nguyen and Pexels Xataka | Anuuu is thrown over another problem: China prepares to lead the manufacture of chips for advanced weapons

The US tariffs are a weapon of mass destruction in the Tech industry. Except for Chinese mobiles

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The 104% tariff Chinese tax By the Trump administration it will shake the foundations of the smartphone industry. Apple and Samsungthe two great actors in the sector, base a good part of their manufacturing strategy in countries especially penalized by these new measures. However, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers could better overcome the blow. Thanks to a strategy focused for years in international expansion and markets outside the United States, their direct exposure to the impact of these tariffs aims to be considerably less. 104%. USA He has officialized a 104% tariff to imports from China, carrying The commercial war between both countries to its peak maximum and leading us to a night of movement in the markets. The consequences have been immediate: Fall of almost 5% in Bag for Apple generalized in the rest of great technology, with the uncertainty of a new commercial scenario that will shake its current strategies. Chinese and United States manufacturers. For Apple and Samsung Import products manufactured in China or Vietnam to the United States will involve an increase in simply unassumable costs without price increases. A case that barely applies Chinese manufacturers, since they have never had too much presence in the country. Giants such as Xiaomi, Oppo or Vivo do not sell smartphones in the United States. However, OnePlus, TCL and Motorola (Property of the China Lenovo) do have a presence in the territory. In fact, Lenovo is the third smartphone manufacturer in the United States. The Lenovo case. Motorola and Lenovo are in the most compromised situation after the entry into force of tariffs. The manufacture of its devices is focused on countries such as China, Brazil and India. Importing the United States with 104% tariffs is simply unfeasible for the company, which would have to move its production chain outside China to survive in the United States. Although not even maintaining a diversified production would be sufficient to partially overcome the impact of tariffs. The Type imposed on Brazil is 10% (the minimum threshold), while that of India amounts to 26%. A 10% tariff is assumed through a light rise hybrid strategy and cost absorption. One of almost 30% requires more drastic measures. The consequences for the rest. On the side of OnePlus and TCL, despite being Chinese manufacturers, they have been making production to countries like India and Brazil for years, diversifying strategy for their product assembly. A diversification that is not enough to overcome tariffs, since the bulk of manufacturing remains in China. The only solution? Move in record time the production outside your native country and centralize efforts in external factories. A withdrawal on time. The most likely scenario after the implementation of tariffs is the disappearance of the little Asian trace that remains in the United States. With the exception of Motorola/Lenovo, this has never been a market to be conquered by China, a position that aims to reaffirm after the crossed commercial war. Beyond mobile phones, companies like Xiaomi, which They sell household products and monitors In the United States, they will have it difficult to maintain presence in the country without raising prices abruptly. A global impact. If manufacturers such as Motorola renounce the US market, with the consequent loss of income that this would entail, an increase in prices globally seems inevitable to alleviate the effects of losing presence in a key territory. Companies such as OnePlus, TCL or Xiaomi, with a minimum presence there, would have it easier to absorb part of this small loss and not end up moving costs to consumers outside the US. Despite this, not everything is so simple. Although Chinese brands do not sell mobiles significantly in the US market, they do have a presence in other categories such as televisions, monitors and home devices. The unknown is whether they will choose to compensate for the blow by increasing prices only in those lines, or if they will end up moving the extra cost to their entire catalog, including smartphones. THE WAR OF COMPONENTS. The main Chinese manufacturers use American components, such as Qualcomm processors or Corning Gorilla Glass crystals. At the moment, this situation would be under doubt, since Qualcomm subcontracts the production of its chips to Taiwanese giants such as TSMC or Samsung Foundry (South Korea). Something similar happens with manufacturers such as Corning, which diversifies production with plants in Asia and Europe to meet global demand. Given that US sanctions They prevent American memoirs from selling their most sophisticated integrated circuits to their Chinese clients, China does not have it easy to reduce dependence on the United States. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Brussels Baraja tariffs of 10% and 25% to US products. The measure aims to take its toll on the European consumer

Agents are the great promise of AI. They also aim to become the new favorite weapon of cybercounts

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The AI ​​agents are not the future: they are here. While chatbots like Chatgpt either Gemini They continue to gain ground in tasks that range from solving daily doubts to help you in programming tasks, large technological ones have begun to take determined steps towards a new generation of much more promising systems. They are able to execute tasks, make decisions and adapt to the environment. They not only respond: they act. And that change is presented as a very powerful advance. OpenAi is developing Operatoran assistant who can navigate pages, book trips or manage files. Anthropic proves your own agent with similar functions in controlled environments. Google works in Jarvis, his future digital butler. The idea is clear: delegate real tasks in artificial intelligences. But that same autonomy that makes them useful allies also makes them a potential risk for cybersecurity. Dangerous autonomy. Unlike traditional bots, AI agents are not limited to predefined instructions. They can control an operating system or make decisions depending on the context. In wrong hands, this autonomy could facilitate complex attacks without the need for human experts. Some laboratory tests already show how these models can replicate operations that previously required advanced technical knowledgesuch as automating spying tasks or manipulating system configurations. The threat begins to appear. Although there is no evidence that they are involved in large -scale cyber attacks, signs have begun to appear. Platforms like LLM Agent Honeypot, designed to detect suspicious accesses, have registered interactions with possible AI agents. In two confirmed cases, the agents responded to instructions embedded with a typical speed of language models, which points to their growing sophistication. We do not talk about organized offensives yet, but of an increasingly real phase. Cheaper, faster, more scalable. As Mit Technology Review points outone of the biggest risks is the potential for climbing. An agent can execute automated actions hundreds of times by a fraction of the cost of a human team. For criminals, that means expanding operations with unprecedented efficiency. If today the mass attacks require investment and specialized personnel, tomorrow they could be launched automatically, selecting objectives and exploring vulnerabilities without constant supervision. LLM Agent Honeypot operation operation scheme Detecting them is not so easy. Although current cybersecurity tools are effective against sophisticated threats, agents introduce a new type of challenge. Unlike classic malware, these systems can reason, adapt to the environment and modify their real -time behavior. This ability to mimic with legitimate traffic forces to rethink detection methods and to develop specific techniques to identify patterns of artificial intelligence. The industry is still exploring how far these systems can go. Some investigations show that, given ambiguous instructions, certain agents can execute unexpected actions. Although they still need human support to complete complex attacks, their evolution is rapid. And the most disturbing is not what they can do today, but what they could do tomorrow. And they will do it in an increasingly adverse scenario. According to checkpoint datain the third quarter of 2024, cyber attacks increased 75% compared to the same period of the previous year. Each organization suffered on average 1,876 weekly attacks. Sectors such as education, government or health are among the most beaten, and regions such as Africa, Europe and Latin America registered alarming growth. The hardware industry, for example, saw the attacks grow by 191% in just one year. More than 1,200 ransomware incidents were reported only in that quarter, mainly affecting manufacturers, hospitals and public administrations. If these types of attacks are delegated to AI agents capable of selecting objectives and launching chain offensives, the impact could be shot. The global panorama is tense, and the agents could be the multiplier that the attackers were waiting. Images | Xataka with chatgpt | Palisade Research In Xataka | There is a person who knows more than anyone in the world about password robberies. And they just steal his

In full nervousness for the cutting of submarine cables, China has a final weapon: a radio in steroids

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The Submarine cables They are one of the most important elements today. Not only is it a huge infrastructure that organizations and companies continue to develop -with such ambitious projects as the Meta cablewhich will take more than one return to the earth-but have become today thanks to the Ukraine War already maneuvers at the South China Sea. It is in this conflict that Some cut cables They have triggered the fear of running out of the Internet, and everything that implies. These cables are protected, but can be damaged by ships. Now, China has presented a device designed with a task in mind: cut underwater cables. And it is the first time that someone announces that he has a tool capable of interrupting critical underwater networks. The importance of cables. There are more than 1.4 billion meters of submarine cables that connect all countries. There are other thousands of kilometers planned, and the vast majority of communications in some countries depend on these cables. 95% of them in the case of Australiafor example, and I know esteem that 95% of the data managed by the American population and 75% by China depend on them. They are vital for the Internet and all that this implies, such as streaming, artificial intelligence or servers, and this year they have become protagonists in war scenarios. Countries in conflict have realized that they can cause great damage by cutting these cables by boats or through more sophisticated techniques, such as Sound attacks. There are times that They are simple accidentsbut the suspicion that a damaged underwater cable corresponds to an enemy attack is something that is there. And more now with what they just announced from China. The Chinese device. As we read in South China Morning Postthe State Key Laboratory of Deep Water Crewing Vehicles and the Scientific Research Center of Ships of China, have developed a tool that describe as “compact” and that is capable of cutting the most sophisticated underwater communication lines or energy in the world. As it is a tool designed specifically for this, it has been conceived to cut cables at depths of up to 4,000 meters. There are no cables right now that they are in such depth, but its creators have provided the device with a completely sealed titanium alloy housing to resist that enormous pressure. This is Haidu, and can carry this “radial” Your weapons. The device is equipped with a kilowatt engine and as a cutting tool uses a 150 millimeter diamond wheel that rotates at 1,600 revolutions per minute. Let’s say it is the mixture between a protected drone to endure very high pressures and a radial. This cutting tool allows to destroy up to armored cables that have steel layers, rubber and polymeric coating. And its form has been designed so that it can be integrated both in manned and non -manned submersibles of China. For example, haidou vehicles or Fondouzhe could have this as one of their tools. He Haiduas a curiosity, it is an unmanned submersible in the form of fish and eyes drawings and fins created for exploration. He Fendouzhe It is a manned submarine, also for research and exploration. World Order. As we say, threaten to cut underwater cables It is not something new. We have seen it in the Ukraine War, but it is the first time that a country officially reveals a tool designed exclusively for that task. Of course, those responsible affirm that the tool has been created for civil purposes. Which is it? Rescue and mining operations in the maritime bed, but it is evident that it is a tool that is surely causing the other neck itching in rulers around the world. It is clear that such a tool can destabilize communications in a crisis and be used strategically during an attack. And it is not only communication, but everything that has to do with the Internet, such as servers and services that depend on them. Debate and consequences. When a cable is cut, communications are rapidly redirected through another, since they are prepared to have a large bandwidth. Therefore, important interruptions are not usually produced, but that cable You have to repair itbeing a fairly expensive process. Now, when it is not a single cut cable, but several, that connection may be set. It is what has led to a debate about the need to protect infrastructure. NATO has launched The mission “Baltic Sentry” To patrol sensitive regions with airplanes, drones and warships. There are also companies that are offering advanced cable monitoring services, answering all measures to a single issue: the protection of infrastructure and early detection to prevent cuts. That there are countries that have already made public that have sophisticated tools for cutting submarine cables and interfering with world geopolitics, is a new headache. Images | Akamgo Yalms (2), What’s Inside In Xataka | Finland entered the suspicious ship of sabotage in the Baltic. What he found was much worse: a spy ship for Russia

The EU has a weapon in the war of tariffs with the US and is to direct them to Republican states

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The EU will respond to The tariffs of the US with the same currency. Or rather, with the same policy, applying a curious law of the talion that from Brussels summary of form Simple but resounding: “Euro per euro, dollar per dollar.” After seeing how Donald Trump pressed on Wednesday the tariff red button, activating 25% rates To imports of European aluminum and steel, the European Commission has decided to replicate by applying taxes worth 26,000 million euros to a long list of American goods. The figure (26,000) is overwhelming, but the most interesting thing is what it hides. The EU has decided “hit where it hurts” to Trump, penalizing products that in many cases leave Great Folders of Republican votes. The goal is evident: press Trump from outside … and from within. A word: tariffs. To Trump He likes tariffs. He has openly recognized it, even as a White House candidate, when assured That ‘Tariff’ is, in his opinion, “the most beautiful word in the dictionary.” In the 50 scarce days He has sitting in the Oval Office has repeated that word a few times, many. Sometimes for disdain in addition. Others, Like this weekto announce a turn in the US policy towards certain foreign goods. On Wednesday the Republican Impulse 25% tariffs to all steel and aluminum imported to the US, a measure that connects with similar ones of his first mandate and that he has not laid anything well in Canada or the EU, who have already decided to play their own letters to respond. In the case of the EU, the European Commission announced yesterday “countermeasures” that will basically translate in applying tariffs worth 26,000 million of euros to certain US exports. What does Brussels plan? Use the stick and carrot. Yesterday the president of the CE, Úrsula von der Leyen, insisted In the importance of commercial relations between the EU and USA, the “harmful” effect of the encumbrances and their hand lying to Washington, but with them he announced EU’s plans to replicate Trump with tariff 26,000 million of euros. Moreover, he has already decided how he will: the EU will advise the coup throughout April, in two phases. On April 1 he will reactivate the “countermeasures” that he had already activated between 2018 and 2020, after Trump’s first government had Increased your rates also unilaterally. That punishment package that Brussels wants to recover It was suspended After the arrival of Joe Biden to the White House and, according to the EU calculationswill now serve to respond to economic damage worth 8,000 million euros caused by US tariffs. The second Brussels movement will reach mid -April (to be precise on the 13th) and will seek to counteract the damage worth another 18,000 million euros that, again According to EU calculationswill have the new Trump tariffs in European exports. Between one and the others they will add 26,000 million. That this last “countermelted” later has an explanation: it is new and before Brussels wants to have it well tied with the 27 EU countries. That’s all? No. von der Leyen argues That the EU wanted to be equitable in its replica: “Since the US applies tariffs worth $ 28,000 million, we respond with countermeasures worth 26,000 million euros,” he alleges. However, there is something so or even more important than those figures: what are applied to. The EC has decided to refine the shot and direct its punishment to certain US goods that can be sensitive to Trump for a very simple reason: they leave states that They support it at the polls, to him and the Republican party. “Hit where it hurts”. A senior EU official summarized it clearly (and forcefully) yesterday in statements a The Guardian: “We try to hit where it hurts.” In the American merchandise list that has the CE in the spotlight, which can be Consult onlinethere are motorcycles, whiskey, wine, honey, meat, cheese … a long payroll of products in which Some experts They have already seen some intentionality. For example, it affects iconic products, with a symbolic value, such as Harley-Davidon motorcycles or The Bourbona wiski with an important roots in the US. The importance of soybeans. The same source that spoke with The Guardian I quoted Another clear example: soybeans, interesting for several reasons. The first is its commercial weight. At least in 2019 it was The main supplier of soy of Europe, far ahead of Brazil, the second supplier. The specialized magazine PROGRESIVE FARMERbased in Alabama, points that Europe buys about 6.5 million metric tons of soybean exports and soy flour with a value of around 3,000 million dollars. Despite this bond the same source of Brussels assured The Guardian that for the EU would not mean any trauma to look for the supply in another market. “We love soybeans, but we are gladly bought from Brazil, Argentina or any other lujar,” reason. A year ago the EU has already raised sensitively The amount of Brazilian soy. The third factor that makes soybeans a sensitive merchandise for Trump, in addition to its weight in the commercial flow with Europe and the possibility of buying it in other countries is where it occurs in the US. Looking at the Republican Party. Soybean is one of the goods more relevant in agricultural exports to the EU. And a state relevant In the cultivation of American soybeans it is Louisiana, a territory especially sensitive For Donald Trump’s game. From there is the Republican Mike Johnsonthe president of the House of Representatives. Luisiana is also one of the states that was dyed red (Republican color) during the presidential elections of 2024, just like Iowa, Indiana, Missuri, Ohio or the two Dakotas. Everyone has more than having facilitated Trump’s access to the White House: they also stand out in The soy map United States. “Smart” tariffs. Something similar happens with the bourbon, especially linked to Tennessee and Kentucky, Traditional Folders Republican vote. The nickname Bluegrass State has also choosing from mid … Read more

Xiaomi’s weapon to compete with the best in AI for mobile

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Within the framework of the Mobile World Congress 2025, Xiaomi has announced great plans for 2025. Xiaomi 15 Ultra is one of them and, together with Xiaomi 15make up the new high range for this year. These two phones arrive with Hyperai, the interpretation of the Chinese manufacturer. Xiaomi has come something after his rivals to integrate multiple functions of AI so natively, but says the saying that better. I have been able to try some of these first -hand functions, so I’m going to tell you what Xiaomi has implemented on these phones, and what to expect from this first stage. This is how Xiaomi money earns – they attract you and catch you The novelties of Hyperai Hyperai’s novelties are divided into seven blocks. In all of them there is a common point: it is a native integration. In other words, they are deep integrations at the system level and it has been sought that the experience be as far as possible to use a third -party service. That said, this is what you should know about Hyperai in Europe. Gemini: Integration with Gemini is completely native. It works as a system assistant, it is invoked with the ignition button and, the most mold, you can read the content of all our apps if we give permission. This allows you to make summaries, translations, and others. Writing with AI: We can change the style of the message, make summaries, review texts, etc. Gallery editor with AI: We can improve the clarity of the photos with AI, make generative expansion of them (such as the adobe tool), delete objects, or create videos with AI. Voice recognition: Transcripts, distinction between speakers, summaries, translations and custom labels for each speaker. Interpret conversations with AI: Face to face interpretation, automatic language recognition, translation templates. CALL INTERPRETE Subtitles with real time Xiaomi’s AI is quite similar to view on the rest of the phones that use the Nano Gemini model: translations, text improvements, editions in the gallery … Those that require Internet connection, such as the expansion of images, also require Xiaomi account. The deletion of people is improvable. Generative for edges. After trying some of these functions, I am clear that Xiaomi’s AI is in its first steps. In this example, quite easy by the way, I wanted to eliminate the person from photography. The result is somewhat inconsistent. In the second example I wanted to fill in space in photography. If we expand, we see that elements such as the fork contain errors. Writing functions are available in apps such as WhatsApp. Some others are native, such as interview transcription in their recorder app. Regarding text corrections, they work quite well. It is a useful function for professional emails and work environment. Transcripts work relatively well (with some errors, of course), but the phone takes a long time to process the results. I would like this processed to be done in the background to expedite the process. Xiaomi has reached AI a tuño late, but the integration promises. Not taking some year of experience makes it end up noticing a certain distance in front of some of its competitors, so the following updates have an important work ahead: reach the level of the best in the market. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Alibaba has new Open Source to generate videos. The problem is that it is being used to generate pornographic deepfakes

A startup claims to have the weapon to end China’s monopoly on rare earths: hard drives

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In the technological era and Energy transition to renewables and the electric car In which we are, the Rare earth They have become the most valuable currency. This set of elements has become essential for many industries, but there is a problem: China dominates both mining and, above all, Rare Earth Metals Productionand he does not hesitate to use them as a throwing weapon in the Technological and Commercial War in which we are. While west Decide which are the next steps In the search for the gold of the 21st century, there are already those who work to obtain rare earth elements from wherever it is thanks to recycling. And that hard drive that has been in the drawer for years is a treasure. ‘Chrysistunity’. “Rare earth” is the name with which we call a group of 17 minerals that are used to manufacture components of electric car batteries, precision medical instruments, speakers or elements of wind turbines, among many other applications in virtually all sectors. Taking them out of the earth is not as much problem as their refining, since it is a process that does not get along with Western pollution restrictions. That is why we were delegating this task to China and, now, the Asian giant dominates practically 90% of production. So important are that the country usually uses the export of rare earth metals when it receives a new western commercial blow and even in the Ukraine War we have seen Trump condition US support to the supply of rare earth. But before each crisis, there is an opportunity. Old hard drives. In the absence of being able to produce them, why not get those elements through recycling? With the plastic we do not do it very well, but with other elements, and in the case of rare earths, it is something that can work. That is precisely what the company has proposed Hypromaga startup founded by personnel from the Metallurgy and Materials School of the University of Birmingham that, as we read in Financial Timeshas focused on the recycling of hard drives. These components once dominated our PCs and, although they remain of great value as external discs and, above all, as components for NAS systems, they have gradually been separated by much faster SSDs and that have been lowering price. And these hard drives have some components that are manufactured thanks to rare earth elements, such as magnets that allow their operation. Recycling. Gavin MUDD is the director of the Critical Mineral Intelligence Center of the United Kingdom and comments that the country imports between 5,000 and 10,000 tons of rare earth magnets every year in the form of finished products and components, but only 1% of that figure Recycle. He affirms that it is not an isolated case and that it is an amount similar to that of other industrialized nations. “We need to consider future domestic production, and that leads us to consider recycling,” he says. And that is where Hypromag technology comes into play. They claim that their technique allows them to extract the magnets that contain rare earths, which weigh between 10% and 15% of the hard disk itself, and obtain the elements sought. To do this, they have a great drum that they fill with even a ton of waste at the same time and, after closing the hermetic doors, introduce pure hydrogen inside. Then, hydrogen unstals enter the fissures of the magnets, causing them to break and separate them from the surrounding material. After this process, which lasts between four and eight hours, a powder composed mainly of the ingredients of the magnet – the neodymium – falls to the bottom of the container, while other elements such as steel, nickel and aluminum are separated and also can also be recycle. Subsequently, they grind the sifted material and an alloy occurs that can become a magnet again. Different approaches. There is another company that is in garlic and that has also spoken with Financial Times with a tone of competition that, in the end, is the one that can advance the industry of rare earth recycling. This company is called Material Cyclic And he affirms that his method is better than that of “magnet to magnet” because he allowed to crumble each component of the elements instead of separating magnets, on the one hand, iron and steel on the other. Ahmad Ghahreman is the executive director of this company and affirms that its approach allows companies to use the rare lands as they want, not only as magnets. And he compared the two approaches with the recycling metaphor of a pizza: “When recycles pizza with our technology, raisins from flour pizza, salt, pepper and all other ingredients. With the other, pass from pizza to the dough. ” An ambitious patch. Despite competitiveness in his words, Ghahreman considers that both methods are valid and “profitable.” In 2024 they produced 100 tons of rare earth oxides, but they hope to reach 600 tons for the end of this year. In addition, they have plans to open another plant in the United States with a capacity of 1,200 tons per year and have plans to open facilities in Canada and Europe in 2028. Hypromag, on the other hand, hopes to produce between 25 and 30 tons per year in its first phase, but with extension plans to 350 tons thanks to a new plant in Germany and another 1,000 tons of annual alloys with a projected plant in Texas. They are less concrete plans, but the objective of both companies is the same. Clue. Allan Walton, the founder of Hypromag, comments that this technology “is a way of extracting large amounts of rare earths and creating a domestic supply,” and the truth is that the recycling of rare earths is something that has been speaking for years, but It was always a challenge. And it is something that is being sought in various parts of the world. For example, … Read more

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